ignorance and innocence
by orangerebel
Summary: Hermione has not lost her memory, her mindset is a bit younger for now. how shall snape deal with this. later chapters hg/ss. first fic
1. Chapter 1

chapter one

There laid a peaceful Hermione Granger in a deep sleep in the school's hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey was tending to the few survivors from the war.

"What's wrong with her?"

"I haven't the slightest idea, Severus. She appears to be in good health, just a few cuts and bruises." Madam Pomfrey said as she got up from the bed side of Seamus, whose face seem to have melted off and was now attached to his lower left arm.

"If she is in perfect health, then why is she not awake after four days?", he asked in a frustrated tone. Not knowing where his burst of anger came from, he looked across to a surprised medi-witch.

She giggled "I never said she was in 'perfect health', we just have wait for her to wake up, Merlin knows what her mentality is like after losing both her entire family and her two best friends."

"Let me know when she wakes up." Snape said coldly dashing to the hallway.

"Yes, headmaster"she nodded and got back to work on the poor Finnigan boy.

…...

Two more days passed and Hermione woke from peaceful slumber to an up right confusion. She didn't know where she was and no one looked even slightly familiar.

"Good morning, Hermione. How are you feeling?"

"I feel okay, but who and you and where am I?" she looked around trying to find anything that could clue her in on her situation.'That's right, my name is Hermione...'

…...

"So she has lost he memory, that's easy enough to fix. I'll go brew some in my office and bring it back shortly"

He returned thirty minutes later with a small vial filled with a blue substance. "Drink the whole thing" he handed it to her.

She put the tiny bottle to her lips and took a sip. "This is yucky".

Severus was puzzled by her vocabulary, he almost laughed at the childish word but instead he looked at her with intriguedeyes "drink all of it" he repeated.

"But I don't wanna".

'Even that Weasley and Potter had a better word choice, and that immature stubbornness,where is this coming from?' He raised his brow making wrinkles on his forehead appear more visible "You will drink every last drop or I shall force it down your throat."

Her eyes began to water and Madam Pomfrey turned around to see the scene. Hermione started to cry, but not only that, she threw bottle at Severus. In her bed she screamed throwing her fists and kicking her legs.

'Okay, now she is having a tantrum, the thought of Hermione Granger having one at her age was preposterous' he backed away from the broken glass and potion.

Madam Pomfrey must have figured it out when she asked sweetly "Hermione dear, how old are you?"

…...

is this better you guys? I tried my best to fix it so it's easier to read.


	2. Chapter 2

chapter two

"six, but I'll be seven in September", Hermione said, totally forgetting that nearly a minute ago she had a senseless fit. Snape gave her a look. "ah, dear we will be in hall, we be back in a few, okay?"

Hermione nodded.

Once they were both in the wide hall neither one know what to say. "what should do we do?" "well you know just as well that there is no magical cure. This is so rare that even I haven't seen a case like this." "how long so you think she'll be like this" 'he could barely stand her as she was, but now how long would she have to be this child Hermione' "the case I've read about, say it comes from a state of desperation and hopeless. So I'm thinking her mind sent her back to a happier time. The times vary from a few weeks to a whole year. She'll be herself again once she feels safe enough to go back to that state of mind" "tell me when she is back to normal" Snape attempted to get away as fast as he could. "NOW YOU, WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU ARE GOING" anger arose in her voice "you know very well, I'm a very busy man" "Rubbish. The staff and I know very well what you do with your precious time. All of your paper work is done for the next year already and all you do is read in your office or take walks about the castle" "Is this how you talk to the headmaster, I could fire you" he smirked "Go right ahead. I could use a break, and have fun healing all these survivors". Snape mentally smacked himself in the head. "but I have no idea how to take care of _children_" he said chills running down his back for disgust of children.

The next few days were hell for anyone who was not Hermione or Snape. Hermione had been harassing all the remaining staff members, begging them to play games with her, and bugging them with her childish whining until she got what she wanted. The house elves were not ones to have complaints but when she ventured through the kitchen in search for sweets but instead made a muck of their cooking space and threw around food or cooking utensils they had much to say. Snape was not bother by her because he stayed locked up in his office reading some of Dumbledore's old books, and every once in a while he would see what trouble Hermione got into, like he cared but a smirk came to his face when he saw the reactions of the few teachers that were still about the castle.

Giggles came from her mouth as she jumped up and down on a spare bed in the hospital wing.

"HERMIONE GRANGER, STOP THIS AT ONCE" Pomfrey exploded. Eyes were on them from waken patients. "enough is enough, come with me Hermione, we going to pay Snape a visit" she puffed "but I'm having fun here pom pom" she went to grab the childish girls arm "NO I DON'T WANNA"

Pomfrey pulled out her wand, she flicked it and Hermione fell to the bed, she ran to her cupboard and grabbed a small bottle then emptied the bottle down her unconscious throat. "that bastard will pay"

Hermione woke completely calm. "now dear, lets go to the headmaster's office" "why" "you'll find out once we get there... it's a surprise" Hermione smiled and followed close behind Madam Pomfrey.

Snape appeared to be reading, with a book slightly covering his face. The woman enter not minding her sound bellowed "SNAPE". Snape was frighting out of his napping state. Hermione entered carefully trying to step on the lines between each tile on the floor. "what do you want you miserable woman" "hmph. You need to go back to your home and take this... child with you" "I'm bu-" he started

"YOU WERE JUST NAPPING HOW BUSY CAN YOU BE" her hysterical voice echoed through the office " I umm well" "you have nothing to do here, she is running a muck. You will take her back to your home"her anger had not settled "fine, tomorrow mourning" "thank you" she left his office

'how hard could it be to take care of her, he would probably just hide away as she destroyed his house then fix it with magic later'

edited most of the errors


	3. Chapter 3

chapter three

Snape and Hermione arrived early in the mourning to a lonely street, Spinner's End. He hated coming back here, it reminded him much of his childhood. He stared at Hermione who looked terrified as she clung to his arm. He started to walk but Hermione didn't move as she held him close to her. "come on, we're almost there".'she wanted to be here as much as he did' "scary " she whispered. He shook her off and made a steady pace down the dreary street, she ran after him grabbing tightly to his robes and continued to follow him.

Once they enter the house she realized it was much more scarier in here then it was outside. Snape promptly showed her the house, telling her which rooms she wasn't allowed in. "This is your room, mine is to the left. Your things are already here for you " the room was tiny and gray, there wasn't a hint of color in the whole house, everything so bland and sad. "do you have everything you need" she looked around then gave a short nod. "I will be in my lab, don't go down there" he informed and proceeded to the basement not looking back to see the tears in Hermione's eyes.

Hermione sat on her bed for about an hour, this place was making her feel so alone. She thought of her parents, how they were playing games with her, reading with her, holding her when she was scared, bandaging her when she got boo- boos, and always telling her that they love her. 'Where are they?' 'Why am I here?' She was so confused with many questions filling her mind. She decided to look around, maybe Sev had some games or sweets hidden somewhere. She climbed down the stairs to the main floor. She had found the study, where books filled every inch of wall, she hadn't learned to read yet but she enjoyed looking at them. "where are the picture books?" she looked through a few heavy books looking for the pictures, there were none to be found. She moved on the the kitchen looking for sweets, her search was fruitless or rather sweetless, not surprising since Snape hadn't been back here in years to restore the food in the cupboards. She could not find anything fun to play with or eat.

After a long while Hermione was in her room as bored as ever. She was laying on her bed picking the chipped gray paint off and found a light green color under it. "Having fun?" she quickly sat up straight and put her hands behind her. "not really, you don't have any games or treats" he raised his brow 'why in the world would he have such things, the thought of him having those sorts of things is absolutely ridiculous. What man his age... well Dumbledore took a strange interest in muggle toys and sweets, no other adult male would keep things of that nature' "and none of your book have pictures" the man sighed "Yes, I noticed you have also been in my library" he thought about his mother 'how would she have taken care of this' "Hermione, you can't leave messes around the house. You have to pick up after yourself, okay?" "OKAY" "we'll go to store tomorrow " "YAY"

Snape gave her a pen and paper to draw on as he whipped up something to eat for dinner, most leftovers from Hogwarts which Minerva give them before they left. By the time dinner was finished Hermione had managed to draw an interesting Snape doodle along with a bunny, color her face black, and covered the table with black marks. 'this is going to be harder than I thought, she sure is a handful' with a few waves of his wand the dining room was rid of the dark ink. He placed a bowl of pumpkin soup and a bit of bread in front of her, then left her alone again. She went back to her room after awhile, she laid on bed and continued to pick the paint off.

Snape sat on a warn arm chair in his study thinking. 'She sure is a lot of trouble, no wonder the staff didn't want her there. But why is she like this? The war has changes us all, but is it really that difficult for her to handle? It's like her mind is shielding her from the pain. Normally people would lose their memory if some tragic and unbearable event happen, simply forget it. But why does she believe she is a child?' He stretched his palm to forehead, fingers through his oily dark locks . "is it really that late already?" he sighed and headed to bed, turning all the lights out behind him. Hermione was in a deep sleep when he turned her bedroom light off as well.

She shoot up from her sleep, she was sweating profusely, her eyes wide and full of tears, she was so frightened. She got out of bed, trying to calm her breathing, she felt her fast heart beat in every quiver. 'It's so dark, I'm so scared. What should I do? Maybe I could ask Sev, he would know what to do. But I don't think he likes me, he ignored all day' She finally decided she couldn't be alone in this dark room any longer and entered the hallway. Hermione crept through the hall and lightly tapped on Snape's door.

"...what?" he moaned 'maybe I should just go back to my room' "sorry" she whispered and turned around, then the pale exhausted man appeared in the doorway and grabbed a hold of her shoulder. "you've already woken me, what do you want" "I had … a bad dream"she mumbled and tears started to fall again. 'Never had he seen her cry, he had seen many cry, even Potter, but not Hermione Granger and over a silly little nightmare.' "Can I sleep in your bed tonight?" she squinted her tears still racing down her cheeks. 'I remember when I was younger than five and made the same request to father, he told me to get over it and toughen up, he couldn't do that to her. Her body is one of a woman but she has no sexual intent' "alright, just for tonight" he made his way back to the bed, Hermione followed laying right next to him, and he turned his back to her. She scooted over and wrapped her arms around him. The tears had stopped and she was finally asleep.

I know this chapter wasn't the best, I might change some things later but I really wanted to get this out today. I thinking about 10 chapters total if not more. Thanks for all the reviews, I really thought no one liked my story. I tried to make this chapter a bit longer. I'm running on no sleep people, but sleep deprivation is the best motivation. : ) plan on seeing and update next weekend. KEEP REIVEWING,

THANK YOU


	4. Chapter 4

chapter 4

He woke to a strange comfort, the young woman had her arms around him, he was facing her with his own arms tightly around her waist. The dark eyed man wondered how this occurred but not bothered by their position. The war took a lot from her, he could see it in her far before the two year war started, she had to grow up, she had to protect them, she had to save the world, now that it's over she has fallen backwards. Hermione slowly became more cold, trying so hard not to show any emotion, this was excepted of her to stay calm and serious, even if it made her bitter. He quickly shook the thoughts of her from his mind as her sleepy lids lifted and he released her from his grasp. Hermione stared with widened eyes in confused and quickly changed to a smile "Good Mourning " with a nod he replied"did you sleep well?" "yeap, I didn't have anymore bad dreams" "I'll get you some dreamless sleep for tonight"

Once they were dressed they went to the store. Hermione of course wanted everything in a colorful package. "those are soy beans" "ewww" she quickly dashed to down the aisle deciding on another product she wanted. He jabbed his finger tips into his forehead...sigh. All eyes were on Hermione as her very adult body was portraying a much younger girl. It took much longer in the market than he was use to, but Hermione was able to get a few games and he was able to get food for the week.

A few weeks had passed and Hermione was satisfied with her games. Snape started spending more and more time with her. She really enjoyed spending time with him and as much as he tried to stay away she would follow him. They continued to sleep in the same bed, eat together, she even got him to color with her (he use the black crayon a lot), and he had even started reading to her. "Can we play hide and go seek, Sev?" she asked. "What's that?" 'a muggle game no doubt' "well one of us hides and the other one finds them" she explained 'the mature Hermione would never want to do anything this pointless and childish' "alright, so do you want to 'hide' or 'seek'" the curly haired girl was already gone 'guess she wants to hide' "COUNT TO A HUNDRED AND THEN TRY AND FIND ME" he heard from a distance.

_It was over without __celebration of victory, too many missing, too many injured, and too many killed. All who were not seriously injured helped in a search for the missing. Severus held a list that show the fate of all who were involved; Dead, Injured, or Missing. He stared deeply at one name that he left blank, Hermione Granger, she was missing. As more reports came in, there were more dead than injured, and she was still missing. 'I have to find her, she can't be dead, she is probably injured and no one else is going to find her in time' "headmaster, where are you going" another professor asked, Snape didn't answer as he made his way to the entrance. He look everywhere there was a past battle, until he found a hidden mass of dead dark and light witches and wizards. Then he heard a cough and he readied his wand. "...Severus..." whispered a weak man. He turned around and sunk to a dieing bloody being "Lupin?" his said in a cold voice but seemed worried when he remembered Lupin and Hermione were in the same group as each other "is she?" Remus cleared his throat "she is...ah...em...fine" he pointed to a pile of bodies and then let his arm drop. He rushed to the pile, finding all but dead bodies until under Ronald Weasley he saw a hand. Snape pushed throw all others until Hermione was the one in his arms. "thank you" he said as he passed Lupin in his last breathe. _

"I found you" he said as he opened the closet door. "how did you know I was in here?",

"well you've only hid in here the last seven times" they laughed. The simplest of things made her happy, just seeing her happy made him happy. 'I want to make her happy, and I want to find her when ever she is lost' "Hey Sev" "hmm" "doesn't this seems like a silly game, I mean hiding just to be found?"she giggled. "which is the funny part, hiding or finding?" he asked. "i think the finding, cause if you're hiding you don't want to be found, right?" "i suppose some people want to be found. I think hiding is the silly part" Snape mused.

sorry this took so long I've been up to a lot lately. I plan to update a lot and hope to finish this story before thanksgiving (dreaming big here). Thanks for reading, please keep reviewing.


	5. Chapter 5

chapter 5

"Hermione! Where are you?" he yelled. Severus had woken in the middle of the night with thunder erupting through the house, a flash of light entered the room showing an empty spot which Hermione was just a few hours ago. He look in the kitchen, the living room, the bathroom and her own bedroom. Another flash of lighting entered and lit up hallway and the whole closet door. Snape heard a movement from the linen closet and relief set in "i didn't know we were playing hide and go seek again" The door swung open and showed a curly haired girl, knees to her chest, face soaked with tears. 'she is afraid of thunder and lighting?' he would of never known. Snape sunk to the the floor and turn to face her "come here. It's going to be fine. I'm here" Snape said softly and calmly. The girl dove into his arms. He wrapped his arms around her.

_The hardest battle was won. She saw it, she saw it all. Her best friend died along with the wizarding world's worst enemy. Harry Potter sacrificed his life for everyone else sake. "HARRY, NO. YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO THIS." 'There has to be another way. Please give me a little more time to figure out another way'. Voldemort crumbled to ground as Harry's body went completely limp. He was gone and one of smartest of witches could not save him now. She kneeled down at his side "Harry" his eyes closed on a miserable pale face. "NO, please, NO!" the bewildered woman shook her best friend._

_Beatrix smiled at the distressed witch and shrieked "AVAD-" Severus interjected and blocked the curse. Hermione looked up 'why did he?' "Watch it you silly girl. You're gonna get yourself killed or get someone else killed." he hissed. His shoulder appeared to be bleeding, she got up looked away. Once the battle was over she returned to the room she was staying in at the order. The room was dark, the curtains cover the windows, and the door was tightly shut on any other light that could shine in. A broken woman stayed silent and awake in the darkness for three whole days. "Hermione won't you at least eat something? I'll make you anything you like? " Molly pleaded at the locked room._

_ There was a knock on her door "there will be a meeting downstairs in a half hour" whispered a gentle voice. The meeting started without her, but she came towards the middle of it. They were talking about Harry's death "This is war, sacrifices must be made. The only reason Harry died was because we did not have a good enough strategy. We need to be serious and so crying over those who are dead, they CAN NOT COME BACK... We are so WEAK, IT'S FUCKING PATHETIC" Hermione bellowed, she then rushed back to her solitude. Everyone watched after her and were quiet awhile in thought. _

_ "This is all because I said something, Remus" Severus and Remus sat in front of the fire in the study. "This isn't your fault. War. It does the cruelest of things to human beings." he sadly stated. The two men started a truce shortly after Sirius' death, when the dark lord found out Severus was a spy for Dumbledore and roughed him up badly. "She actually reminds a lot of how you were." the men stared into the flames. "That's what worries me" Severus sighed. "You care for her, don't you?" he said softly. "You have to ask" Remus grinned "Hermione seems so broken, I don't think she'll ever be happy again. It hurts seeing her this way" Snape trailed his palm along his face._

"Why didn't you wake me?" Snape asked. "I tried-ed to, but you- wouldn't wake up." she cried. Severus pulled her into a tight hug "I'm sorry, Hermione." he paused and felt a single tear trickled down his pale cheek "I'll always be there for you, you must know that." she feel asleep with her head against his beating heart.

A few days passed, an owl arrived.

Dear Headmaster,

As I'm sure you are very aware, the new school year is coming up. It is to utmost importance you be here the week prior of student arrival. This is the first school year after the war, the school was closed most of the last two years, so of course there must be celebration for the reopening of Hogwarts. I know how much you enjoy festivity, but this really is a joyous occasion. The students are no longer in danger of being here, which means there will definite increase of students. We are all counting on you to bring in the new school. I do hope things with Ms. Granger are going well.

-Minerva

I just stayed up all night writing this, hope you enjoy... I really loved writing this chapter. Hope there aren't too many spelling errors. Next week there are going to be lots of chapters coming out, it'll be like magic.


	6. Chapter 6

chapter 6

Snape had spent the entire summer alone with Hermione Granger, something thought to be unfathomable. Just thinking about it he had always wanted to spend time with her and let her know he cared about her, it was never that important to do so, he had to force on his job. His complete mind and body were required to each mission, each battle. Severus never need anyone one, he felt quite useless after the final battle, the one thing he dedicated his life to, the only thing he was good for, gone and he was still alive. It's not like she needed him anyway, she had friends and her loving family. She was never this dependent to anyone, it is the opposite now.

"why do we have to go back?" she asked. "I have to" he said. "but why?" she begged. "I understand you don't wish to return to Hogwarts, but there is nothing I can do. Might I ask you why you want to come with me" Snape fixed his position on the velvet armchair to face Hermione. "i don't want..." she begun, Snape tilted his head and sent a curious look "you are going to do it again, aren't?".

He was a bit confused now "what is that?" "you are going to ignore me". The man moved to sit on the couch, he was close beside her and swept a stray hair from her face "Never" Arms wrapped around his dark robes "Thank you" she murmured against heartbeat. Her childish behavior and neediness no longer bothered him, as long as she was happy.

Once they arrived at the castle Snape let the girl wonder about the grounds warning to her not to go in the forbidden forest, while he had the most enjoyable pleasure of talking to McGonagall and Pomfrey. "How is Ms. Granger?" was the first thing Minerva spat out. "Yes, has her condition changed?" Pomfrey added. "There is no change" he stated."Nothing? She has been with you nearly three months". "What have you been doing? Ignoring the poor girl? " Pomfrey asked. Snape hated being in the same room with both of them at the same time, they always ask back-to-back question. "Of course not" he glared at his investigators. "Well what are you doing to change her back?" sneered the witch in emerald green robes "Do you want her to stay like this forever?" the medi-witch continued. "She is finally happy" he looked away from the oncoming witches. "Severus..."the woman in white started."I've never seen her this happy and you want to take it from her, now that she has finally found it" he growled, anger appearing in eyes. "She can be happy in her true mind, where she belongs. I'm am quite sure she will be joyed by our victory, it is after all been her dream for the past years." Minerva boasted. "'HER DREAM' she was miserable because of the war, it tore her apart. Do you really think she will be happy? Her best friends are DEAD, along with her entire family. Why do you think she is like this? She can't bring her mind to the fact that she survived, when everyone she loved didn't" the irritated wizard and tried calm himself. "so you believe we should keep her ignorant of the truth, simply to keep her happy?" she argued. "headmaster, the Granger girl will eventually start to ask questions, she can't stay this way forever. All children must grow up, no matter how much we would like to keep them from them innocent from the evils of the world." Pomfrey said softly. Snape was once again emotionless and exited the office.

He saw a depressed curly haired sunken into a window frame, her face pressed against her knees. "Hermione, are you okay?" his fingers brushed against her head. "Why am I here?" she mumbled with her head hung low. "because next week school starts, remember?" he flashed a quick grin hoping she cheer up. "I don't belong here and I don't belong with you. Don't I have parents? I remember having parents... I think...where are they? Are they even real?...and why do-" she cried but Snape interrupted "we'll talk about that later, but it's late why don't we go to bed?" he suggested. Hermione brought teary topaz eyes to look into Severus' cold black ones "Why won't you tell me?" she through herself off the sill and ran. "WAIT, come back"

i've been super busy, I wanted to get this one out yesterday. I plan to have ch 7 out later tonight. Only a few more chapters left... I think I'm only going to do 2 more. I wanted to do more but I want to move on to another story. Thanks for reading-sorry for any spelling or grammar error(might fix up later). Please review


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